A real-life D/s couple, together for more than ten years, discuss what it's like to live the "lifestyle" in real life, long term, from both points of view. Techniques, interactions, product reviews and events will be featured, as well as essays on life as we know it.

Friday, 17 June 2011

Review Thursday: DIY Rope Flogger

A while ago my girl found some online directions for making rope floggers. Cool stuff actually, it wasn't a material I would have expected to use for that. Since I have my own love of rope this seemed double great for me.

We went to Totem and spent about $20 on supplies. Finding the rope wasn't any trouble (braided cotton), but it took forever to finally locate the solid rings that had been recommended. We ended up finding them and probably bought ones that are a bit too large, but it was better to have too big rather than too small. I think everything was less than $20, so definitely a good deal.

Put together they actually looked pretty cool. I know I expressed my reservations about the knotted ends when I saw them, since I'm the one that actually throws the flogger I know how it ends up landing. Much of the 'thwack' comes from the ends, especially when you're working high on the back near the shoulders, or on the bottom directly from behind. She assured me that this was how the directions had explained things.

Well the other day I decided that a good flogging was in order - I'm sure you know how that goes, sometimes you are just in the mood for it. Since these new rope floggers are all we currently have it was time to break them in.

I decided to start with the heavier rope, the lighter looked like it would be stingier and better for use later on. I'd practiced a bit with these so I knew what to expect throwing them. I landed a few (what I considered) light blows and she was already yelling. I could tell from the sound that the knots were landing quite harshly on her skin. This wasn't really the kind of sensation I wanted to start off with.

I continued working with it, giving liberal breaks. Her skin started to redden in small little dotted patches, which really proved what was causing the impact on her skin. During this first process she was quite wiggly and I could tell it wasn't all 'fun' for her. Finally when I had properly leathered her skin she seemed to relax and enjoy it. At that point I assume the sensation must have changed to something more comfortable and the 'thuddy' impact was more enjoyable.

I also found a good use for the tufted ends of the rope flogger, they'd frayed to a point where they felt like small cotton balls, which made her shiver nicely when I worked them across her red skin.

I tried to 'spank' her with the flogger as well, but it wasn't well suited for that. The tips are too heavy with the knots to snap properly. Using it across her bottom worked but again the knots landed more solidly, so to get an even sensation I would have to keep changing sides I was beating her from.

I broke out the smaller flogger about half way through. It was more easily controlled, but even light strokes with it caused her to jump and cry out. I didn't try to push it too far since she'd had a hard enough time warming up to begin with. I'll break it out again for a full try another day when I have something else to warm her up with.

During the use I found that it performed well. It flew and stayed together until it landed and splayed. I managed to get a good rhythm going in multiple permutations. Having the rings at the end was actually a nice benefit for some situations.

I'm not sure how the handles were created exactly but the woven grips worked wonderfully to keep it from slipping. It was also solid enough to give me the control I needed to properly throw it. Overall it was a fantastic project, and I'm quite happy that she found it and took the initiative.